


Chronic

by suitboxers (orphan_account)



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Genre: Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Drug Withdrawal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 12:58:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9236189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/suitboxers
Summary: “I'm sorry Leo, but there's nothing I can do,” Don says, a forlorn expression on his face as he passes Leo a bottle of pills, “Just take these three times a day and the pain should be manageable at least. Let me know if you need me to up the dosage.”--In which Leo's need to block out the pain becomes something else entirely.





	

“I'm sorry Leo, but there's nothing I can do,” Don says, a forlorn expression on his face as he passes Leo a bottle of pills, “Just take these three times a day and the pain should be manageable at least. Let me know if you need me to up the dosage.”

Leo smiles slightly and stands with a short nod, “Thanks.”

–

He rubs his palm against his shoulder for a long moment before popping a pill into his mouth and swallowing it dry.

–

“What the hell happened out there?” Raph shouts, gettings up in his face with his arms spread, “Ya just froze like a dear in the headlights when that guy hit ya in the arm!”

“It won't happen again,” Leo all but growls, forcing himself to drop his hand from his shoulder.

“That ain't an answer,” Raph growls.

“Raphael!” Splinter snaps, hobbling into the room, “That is enough. Did it ever occur to you that your brother might still be in pain?”

“What? From the explosion on the Shredder's _ship_?” Raph replies disbelievingly, “That was six months ago! There ain't no way he's still hurting from it.”

“Raph-”

Leo grits his teeth and, ignoring the calls of his father, he leaves the room. He takes two pills that night.

–

Don's thumbs all but tear into the meat of his shoulder as he tries to massage away the knot, leaving Leo to grit his teeth as hard as he possibly can and bear it. Fists clenched, his brows twitch when his brother hits a particularly stubborn knot near the base of his cracked shell.

It feels like forever before Don's stepping away and offering him another bottle of pills. He takes them with more grace than Raph would, at least.

“You need to be more careful out there, bro. Who knows what's causing your arm to seize up like this?” Don says, frowning with that worried crease in his brow he always gets.

Leo smiles slightly and pats him in the arm, “I'll be fine, bro. Thanks for the massage.”

–

Leo fingers the bottle in his hands as he sits on the toilet seat, reading over the label with eyes not registering the words. He's supposed to only take one pill three times a day, he knows this, but he's been taking two pills three times a day now and it hasn't been working as well lately.

After a long moment of hesitation, he tips three pills into his palm and swallows them dry. It's time to up the dosage.

–

“Ah, shit,” Leo hisses under his breath as he twists his shoulder in just the wrong way while trying to grab a box of cereal from above. He takes a moment to fight off the pain before gritting his teeth and finishing his task. He's not so invalid he can't make himself breakfast.

“Your arm's still bugging you?” Mike asks from the doorway, an uncharacteristic frown on his face, “Didn't Donnie fix that problem?”

Leo takes another moment to get his breathing under control as he lightly massages the aging scar, before turning to Mike with a small grin.

“It's fine, bro,” Leo says after a moment, cocking his brow, “I just forgot to take my pills this morning is all.”

A lie – he took three.

“Damn son,” Mike replies, pursing his lips dramatically and cocking his hip, “How about you go pop 'em now before Donnie blows a gasket. Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret.”

Leo's smile turned strained, “Thanks, Mikey.”

–

“Leo...” Don says, before biting his lip and turning away from the computer with a concerned look on his face, “I've been looking up the causes of chronic pain lately, y'know, since your shoulder's still bugging you and all.”

Leo frowns, rubbing the joint, “Yeah?”

“Did it... ever occur to you that it might not be physical? That it might be psychosomatic?” He asks after another long moment, eyes darting everywhere but his brother's face, “I mean, it's been over a year now and it hasn't gone away – or even lessened.”

Leo's frown darkens, “What're you saying? That it's all in my head?”

Don's face pulls a few funny expressions before finally settling on sympathetic, and it's the pity in his eyes that drives Leo from the room.

“Leo- Leo! Come on, Leo!”

–

He pours four pills into his hand that night – time to up the dosage.

–

It was an accident. He has to keep telling himself it was an accident as he helps Raph carry his younger brother in Don's make-shift mini hospital and lay him on the sickbed. He has to keep telling himself it was an accident as he watches Don suture Mike's wounds and he has to keep telling himself it was an accident has his little brother sleeps off the anaesthetic because if he doesn't he'll have to admit to himself that it was his own weakness that put Mike in harms way and he can't handle that kind of thinking right now.

He grips his shoulder, tightly, and tries to ignore the pain. Raph sits next to him on the bench.

“What the hell happened out there?” He asks, eyes surprisingly soft – all things considered.

“It was an accident.”

“Yeah, I got that much – but I meant with your arm, bro. You could've blocked that hit,” Raph says, “You would've blocked that hit if ya arm didn't suddenly spaz out. So lemme ask you again, bro – what the hell happened out there?”

Leo frowns, staring at his feet, “I just haven't been feeling so good lately. No big deal.”

“Yeah, right,” Don says, making his way between them with a needle in one hand and a kidney dish in the other. The way Raph scooted off the bench and crossed the room would've been more amusing than it was if Mike weren't laying unconscious not ten feet away, “Routine blood check. You're next, Raph.”

“I'm fine,” Raph growls, prompting a small smile to push it's way onto Leo's face as he offers Don his arm.

“Relax, Raph – it's just a little needle,” Leo teases.

“Piss off!”

–

Leo stares at his reflection in the mirror, scowls at it as he rubs the constant _ache_ in his shoulder joint. Maybe Don's right, maybe it is psychosomatic.

He slips five pills into his hand this time. He just wants it to go _away_.

–

“Leonardo!” Don barks from his lab, all but storming out and dragging his older brother across the lair in some kind of a fury, “We need to talk.”

Leo shares a confused with Raph, of whom he'd just been sparring with, and lets Don drag him into the lab. Don wastes no time in depositing Leo onto the make-shift sick bed and slapping a piece of paper onto his plastron. Even with his quick reflexes, he barely manages to keep it from dropping onto the floor.

“What-?”

“Do you know what that is, Leo?” Don barks, jabbing a finger at the document in Leo's hands.

Leo shakes his head, “Uhm, no-”

“ _That_ is a toxicology screen Leo, a tox screen I did on _you_ last week,” he growls, snatching the paper from Leo's hands and beginning to pace the room, “Do you know _why_ you're only allowed to take one of your pills a day? Do you?” Leo shakes his head, “Because they contain morphine! In fact, they _are_ morphine! I _told_ you to come to me if you needed to up the dosage, I _trusted_ you to.”

Leo freezes, “Don, I-”

“How many a day are you taking, Leo? How many?!” Don shouts, gripping the sheet of paper so hard it crinkles in his fist.

“I- Six,” Leo says after a long moment, before biting his lip and looking away, “Six... four times a day.”

“Six-?” Don gasps before he buries his head in his hands for a long moment, “That's twenty-four tablets a day, Leo. That's eight _times_ the daily limit,” he lets out a distressed sound and puts the sheet back onto his desk, “I can't believe this, out of Raph or Mikey maybe, but _you_? I can't believe this.”

Leo frowns, “Can't believe what?”

Don turns to him with one of the most hurt expressions Leo has ever seen.

“I can't believe that my big brother's a drug addict.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Considering this was supposed to be a short whinge fic about how annoying chronic pain can be this really turned into something else. xD


End file.
